Hi
I was loving my little Fiat 500 till I could no longer open the boot. I took it to the garage I bought it from and after paying £50 for them to diagnose that the switch and lock was broken, they wanted another £250 just to buy a new one, then £85 for fitting it!! I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar broken and how they have fixed it please?? P.s my key fob doesn't work either, so I have to open the car up manually - it's another £450 for a new key fob!!
TIA ?

Firstly=who on earth is giving you these prices-Fiat dealer by any chance?

Boot entire lock and handle I got for £60 on eBay and 10 mins easy fit
New remote key can be got for £250max from Replacemykey.com

Thank you!!
Yes, Fiat dealer for key but Arnold Clark for boot lock.
I will have a look on eBay. ?

Laslaa said:

Thank you!!
Yes, Fiat dealer for key but Arnold Clark for boot lock.
I will have a look on eBay. ?

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The switch (in the boot handle) and the 'lock' (presumable the latch and solenoid are completely separate parts - are you sure both have failed? Could this be the dreaded wiring loom break? An interruption of power to the solenoid would cause the switch, and the key fob, to apparently fail to work.

Hi how old is you car? What else does not work on the boot lid?
I would guess it's the well documented hatch wiring issue, about £100_150 to have someone else sort it, this will probably fix all the issues (£50 for the repair kit) almost ALL things can be done cheaply on the 500 as lots of things break very early so parts are readily available, do you have ANY noises from the fron suspension going over speed humps?say?

As said above, you probably don't need handle or latch.

The switch in the handle is not directly connected to the latch below it. It instead sends a trigger signal to the body control unit (BCU), which in turn sends the power to the latch release.

The fob sends a trigger signal to the BCU, which then sends power to the latch.

So for both not to function, the handle is unlikely to be the problem. Handle is easy to test, continuity meter across its two wires, press it, see the change. Easy.

Latch can be tested, apply 12v, see it operate.

Wiring across the gap between body and tailgate is a known weakness on the 500. Search the threads for links to the repair kit on Ebay.

Tailgate can be opened from inside. Fold seats, head into boot, there's a little lever on the latch that releases it.